Letter to Daniel by Fergal Keane

Seven of our group enjoyed a deep, sometimes bordering on political, discussion over a glass of wine and nibbles kindly hosted by Felicity.

We all sat down with our books of matching covers, each representing the resourcefulness we share as the book is out of print and hard to come by. The efforts to search and secure our reading matter were well rewarded as we talked and talked about the book and more broadly about the world it is written about.

This is an honest account by and about the life Fergal Keane has had as a BBC news reporter - a life that took him from small town Ireland to the African and Asian continents and almost certainly many other parts of the world.

It is an infinitely depressing read, but it is though provoking, educational and gripping. It is (as you expect of such an eminent journalist) very well written. It brought back memories of a (totally different genre) past book group read: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - "how can something so awful be so beautifully written?"

We had many questions we would have liked to have asked Fergal. For example, how does he live his life when dealing with everything he reports? how does he cope with the horrors? We are 20 years on from when this book was written and the world has got no better - is it worth it? Do you distance yourself from the horrors?

The book is more than a catalogue of horror and disasters but only because Fergal brings each episode back to his reality and leaves a glimmer of hope here and there. Such as:

The Grandson who took a stand against his Prime Minister Grandfather - the architect of Apartheid.
AND
The Chicken School where 9000 children came to learn everyday and sat on old bus seats to do so.

For some of us the book highlighted our own limited knowledge of politics in other parts of the world. How much do we really know about the Middle East now, we wondered? Should we keep out of the situation? does it make anything better to get involved? This is a book group, we stopped short at full on politics, though the Daily Mail did get a mention (mainly for the crossword!)

After Africa it was hard to concentrate on Asia, but concentrate we must in order to get a little bit of knowledge about a very hard line world.

So, in summary this is a thought provoking, hard to read, book and we recommend it as a book that needs discussion - if you can find it!

Our next read is 'The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally' and we will meet at The Hundred of Ashendon, 8pm on Thursday 25th May.

Book Choices - March 2017

Our next meeting is on Monday 27th March at 8pm when we will be discussing Letter to Daniel by Fergal Keane. We will be meeting at Felicity's house as the pub is closed on Mondays.

Here are the choices for our next (Spring!) read.

The Outsider by Albert Camus

In The Outsider (1942), his classic existentialist novel, Camus explores the alienation of an individual who refuses to conform to social norms. Meursault, his anti-hero, will not lie. When his mother dies, he refuses to show his emotions simply to satisfy the expectations of others. And when he commits a random act of violence on a sun-drenched beach near Algiers, his lack of remorse compounds his guilt in the eyes of society and the law. Yet he is as much a victim as a criminal.

Albert Camus' portrayal of a man confronting the absurd, and revolting against the injustice of society, depicts the paradox of man's joy in life when faced with the 'tender indifference' of the world.

Albert Camus (1913-1960), French novelist, essayist and playwright, is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous works include The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1947), The Just (1949), The Rebel (1951) and The Fall (1956). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, and his last novel, The First Man, unfinished at the time of his death, appeared in print for the first time in 1994, and was published in English soon after by Hamish Hamilton.

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally

From the acclaimed author of Schindler’s List, the epic, unforgettable story of two sisters from Australia, both trained nurses, whose lives are transformed by the cataclysm of the first World War. 

From the acclaimed author of Schindler’s List comes the epic, unforgettable story of two sisters whose lives are transformed by the cataclysm of the First World War.

IN 1915, Naomi and Sally Durance, two spirited Australian sisters, join the war effort as nurses, escaping the confines of their father’s farm and carrying a guilty secret with them. Though they are used to tending the sick, nothing could have prepared them for what they confront, first on a hospital ship near Gallipoli, then on the Western Front. 

Yet amid the carnage, the sisters become the friends they never were at home and find them­selves courageous in the face of extreme danger and also the hostility from some on their own side. There is great bravery, humour, and compassion, too, and the inspiring example of the remarkable women they serve alongside. In France, where Naomi nurses in a hospital set up by the eccen­tric Lady Tarlton while Sally works in a casualty clearing station, each meets an exceptional man: the kind of men for whom they might give up some of their newfound independence—if only they all survive

At once vast in scope and extraordinarily intimate, The Daughters of Mars brings World War I vividly to life from an uncommon perspec­tive. Thomas Keneally has written a remarkable novel about suffering and transcendence, despair and triumph, and the simple acts of decency that make us human even in a world gone mad.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn't spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable. 

A short novel about love, particularly the complicated love between mothers and daughters, but also simpler, more sudden bonds . . . It evokes these connections in a style so spare, so pure and so profound the book almost seems to be a kind of scripture or sutra, if a very down-to-earth and unpretentious one.